Page 34 of Whiskers and Wiles

“The Badger Society is a secret group of men who have been working for the unity of Britannia since the time of Cromwell’s failed attempt at unification,” he said, as if trying to keep himself calm enough to explain. “Each of us is identifiable to the others by our facial hair.”

“That is absurd,” Kat said, grasping onto that one thing to ease her fathomless guilt. “Not only absurd, it is obvious.”

“It was not obvious until you came along and revealed the connection to several men in this room,” Waldorf huffed.

Another pinch of shame twisted in Kat’s gut, but she tried to push it away. “What difference does it make that a few men know how to identify a group of badgers?”

Waldorf clenched his jaw, as if fighting for patience. “Nearly all of the men in the Badger Society are double agents,” he said, moving closer to her again and lowering his voice. “Almost all of them are employed as spies or councilors for the leaders of recalcitrant kingdoms in the New Heptarchy. The organization is so secret that we do not know each other, not well. Theobviousness of whiskers was our primary way to distinguish each other, and to prevent ourselves from being discovered by the monarchs and noblemen we ostensibly work for.”

“But that’s…that’s….”

That had been a clever idea. Kat could see it now. She could also see that she had damaged the very people whom, she now very deeply suspected, were working for the same cause she was.

“Why could you not simply tell me any of this?” she asked, her voice weak and her moral ground shaky once more.

“Why do you think?” Waldorf snapped in reply.

Kat lowered her head. It had been her own fault, all of it. She had rushed to take action because of her personal suspicions about Waldorf. Further, she had the horrible feeling that she had only been suspicious of Waldorf when she received the note because he had upset her long-held feelings about him. Her entire world had been turned on its head, and she’d been desperate to find a way to prove that she’d been right to spend the past twenty years furious with him.

“I do not know what to say,” she whispered at last.

“You could begin by saying you were in the wrong,” Waldorf snapped, still angry.

Kat could not decide if his continued anger was entirely justified, but it was not in her nature to accept defeat at Waldorf’s hands. “Are you willing to admit the same?” she asked, squaring her shoulders and trying for courage she did not feel.

Waldorf had turned away, but he snapped back to her. “What? What do you mean by that?”

“I am not the only one to act on scant information,” she said, tilting her chin up. “I am not the only one who has ruined something precious by acting before thinking.”

Waldorf stared at her incredulously for a moment.

Then the truth hit him.

“This is no time to resurrect the past,” he said, his words clipped and his eyes filling with regret that did not match his tone. “What’s done is done.”

“Yes,” Kat said, feeling sick on top of guilty now. “I can see that it is done. Completely done.”

Waldorf stood straighter, the hurt in his expression battling with indignation. “I see,” he said.

“Perhaps you do.” Kat lowered her voice to a cool register.

She knew what she needed to do. It would never work between her and Waldorf. Too many things had passed between them. They’d hurt each other in too many ways, inflicted too many wounds. The moment in the carriage the other night had been pure illusion. There was no possible way the two of them would ever be able to reconcile the past or heal the hurt they’d done to each other.

“So, we are agreed, then?” Waldorf asked in a dire voice.

Kat nodded. “We had our chance,” she said, her voice going hoarse and her heart bleeding. “Our flame burned too brightly and charred us both.”

“We know that this does not work,” Waldorf agreed, gesturing between the two of them.

“It is best that we part ways now, accepting that we failed,” Kat said, wanting to weep.

“We will do our best to avoid each other wherever possible in future,” Waldorf agreed, stiff and gruff. “I’ve no real need to be in London, if you wish for this to be your territory.”

“And I have no excuse to travel to Wessex,” Kat agreed with a nod. “We need never see hide nor hair of each other again for the rest of our lives.”

Waldorf hesitated, then nodded. “Agreed.”

“It is for the best,” Kat said, mostly to convince herself.

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